Damien Barr's Maggie and Me is a funny, touching and sometimes horrifying account of a gay boy growing up in a tough poor community in Scotland.

And finally, tarantara, the Book of the Year (there's a picture clue at the top of the post):

Stephen Grosz: The Examined Life. "We are all storytellers – we make stories to make sense of our lives. But it is not enough to tell tales. There must be someone to listen." Stories of extraordinary lives, and ordinary lives marked with the extraordinary. For teachers, parents, readers, this is profound and thought-provoking writing.